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Due to printing mistake in Northern Railway Time-Table effective from 1st July 2013, the departure timings of the following trains may be read as under:·The 64401 Ghaziabad –DelhiJn. EMU train will depart from Ghaziabadat 10.20 a.m. instead of 10.30 a.m. as printed earlier.·The 64906 Ghaziabad –Palwal EMU train will depart from Ghaziabadat 05.05 p.m. instead of 05.10 p.m. as printed earlier.·The 54539 Hazrat Nizamuddin- Ambala passenger train will depart from Hazrat Nizamuddin at 03.00 a.m. and from New Delhi at 03.30 a.m. instead of 03.50 a.m. as printed earlier.·The 12903 Mumbai Central- Amritsar Golden Temple Mail train will depart from Ghaziabad at 08.03 p.m. instead of AA. as printed earlier.However, there is no change in the timing and schedule of the above train enroute.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded in Srikakulam, Palasa and Naupada railway stations on Monday with the halt of important trains due to lack of power supply for the movement of trains.

The shortage of power supply due to the strike by the electricity employees has badly hit the movement of around six trains. Many goods trains were also stranded in Palasa and Srikakulam stations. The trains’ movement to important stations including Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Howrah and Bangalore was being disrupted severely with the electricity employees’ strike.

Visakha Express ( Secunderabad-Bhubaneswar-Train No.17106) was halted for more than two-and-half hours at Palasa station. It reached Palasa at 11.10 a.m. but could not move till 2.30 p.m. Howrah-Chennai Mail express (Train No.12839) was stationed at Palasa from 11 a.m. onwards.

Shalimar-Trivandrum Express (Train No.16324) reached Palasa at 11.05 a.m. and stopped at the station for more than three-and-half hours.

Prashanti Express (Bhubaneswar-Bangalore, Train No.18463) could not move from Naupada station from 10.30 a.m. onwards.

Howrah-Pondicherry express was also affected with the strike being observed by electricity employees in support of United AP Movement. East Coast Railway authorities are trying to operate the services with diesel engines. But they have limited diesel engines and could not arrange them for all the trains. The railway officials feared that the impact will be more on other trains too if the strike was not called off immediately.

Srikakulam Electricity Employees JAC convener Gopala Rao told The Hindu that the impact will be much more from Tuesday.

“Already many trains were stranded at several stations of Srikakulam district. As many as 48 lakh consumers will also get affected with our strike in North Andhra region,” he said.

Meanwhile Samaikyandhra JAC leaders Chowdary Purushottam Naidu, Hanumanthu Sairam and others extended their support to the electricity employees. They said that the agitation would be strong with the protests being planned at banks and Central government offices on 8th and 9th. The samiti will take consent letters from all MLAs for Samaikyandhra between 10th and 12th.

Power crisis in Andhra Pradesh is a factor behind the cancellation of the trains, Railway sources said.

East Coast Railways on Monday halted operations of four express trains and all local/passenger trains originating and terminating at Visakhapatnam in the wake of agitation in Andhra Pradesh, official sources said.

Power crisis in Andhra Pradesh is a factor behind the cancellation of the trains, Railway sources said.

However, for the comfortable journey of the train passengers stranded enroute, East Coast Railway has arranged diesel locomotives for movement of long distance trains.

Apart from this, food and drinking water provision has been made at different stations for stranded passengers, a Railway release said.

ECoR has also opened an emergency control room at Visakhapatnam for smooth movement of trains. Staff has been deputed to look after the proper arrangement of food and drinking water at various stations and in trains.

If it were not for the modern convenience of sound-proof rooms, one would hear the constant rumble of trains at the Egmore railway station, as Noel Thomas, editor of a book on Anglo-Indian railway memories, passionately spoke about how the railway platform was their performance stage.

“We were in every act and in every scene and we gave a sterling performance,” he said on Monday evening, at the launch of ‘Footprints on the track – Anglo Indian railway memories’, a compilation of 35-odd articles by various contributors published by Anglo-Ink.

The compilation is a warm and passionate recollection of Anglo-Indian engine drivers who would never desert their engines, about the riotously vibrant life at the railway colonies and institutes, and stories of courage and deep knowledge about the railways.

From engine drivers to railway guards to signal inspectors, the community dominated the profession until well into the 1960s.

“Anglo-Indians have been part of the railways from very early on, right from when the tracks were being laid,” Mr. Thomas said. A railway man himself, Mr. Thomas joined the railways as an apprentice at the age of 17 and retired as a divisional mechanical engineer after serving in the railways for 42 years.

Harry Maclure, publisher, Anglo- Ink, who has also contributed to the book, has written about the ‘dancing driver’, the Fuller family in Chennai whose five generations have been employed in the railways. He has also written about the ‘Trichinopoly junction and Golden Rock’, a chapter which Mr. Noel said Mr. Maclure wrote at ‘the speed of his father’s mail train’.

Mr. Maclure said the book also had material from various other sources.

Historian S. Muthiah, who released the book, said it was not just a good read, but the history of a forgotten era. “Anglo-Indians were found in other government services as well, but the Railways served as the lifeline of the community,” he said. They took pride in their engines, and ensured that they were gleaming, he added.

However, the book is not just about nostalgia. “It is nostalgia with a message,” said Mr. Thomas. “ I think that Anglo-Indians have been misunderstood as a happy-go-lucky people. But we put duty first. What the outsiders did not see were the struggles and sacrifices,” he said.

The book delves into the sacrifices made by those such as Percy Carroll, driver of the Bombay-Calcutta Mail, who lost his life while saving the lives of the passengers on his train one fateful morning, Mr. Thomas said.

Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner who received a copy of the book, recalled his two eventful train journeys in India.

From engine drivers to signal inspectors, the Anglo-Indian community dominated the Railways until well into the 1960s

Exactly two years after it began to run, Metro has not reduced traffic, and remains a joy ride

In the two years since the inauguration of Reach One of Metro Phase One, connecting Byappanahalli and M.G. Road, life has remained largely unchanged for the average commuter.Given that the service presently covers only six kilometres, the Metro is yet to become the preferred mode of transport for people who live in East Bangalore neighbourhoods of Indiranagar, Ulsoor, Old Madras Road and Byappanahalli. The impact of the line on vehicular traffic is negligible.“Right now it’s just a joy ride. It feels like the Namma Metro authorities have put this line just to give people an idea of how things might be when the full project becomes functional,” says D.R. Narendra Kumar, a Kannada professor who lives in Jogupalya.The professor’s assertion is borne out by the hordes of tourists who ride the Byappanahalli line just for thrills – cameras and all. “Earlier people used to go to Cubbon Park for a toy train ride. Now they take the Metro,” laughs Mohan Raj, a cellphone shop owner in Indiranagar.

When Reach One was inaugurated in October 2011, elected representatives as well as bureaucrats promised that Underground Two (M.G. Road-Magadi Road) would be inaugurated within a year. Owing to several technical problems, particularly resistance to land acquisition, this stretch is still some distance from completion.

“Had this stretch been commissioned, the Metro would actually have had some value as it would have connected us to the [Majestic] Railway Station,” says Parakram Chetri, a security guard who works in C.V. Raman Nagar. Aruna Prakash (46), a bank employee, shared, “I live in Indiranagar and Metro serves only 20 per cent of my travel due to its limited connectivity. How can anyone completely rely on it as a staple mode of transport everyday?”

Lakshminarasimhaiah, a Cubbon Road traffic sub-inspector, says, “On M.G. Road, there has been a small but significant reduction of traffic [after the Metro line was commissioned]. But this might also be because BMTC buses are no longer allowed in that stretch.”

Bangalore’s Additional Commissioner of Police, B. Dayanand, said that while there has been no formal assessment of traffic increase or decrease after Metro, “due to its limited coverage area, we assume it has not made much difference”. Even a layman with a vague analysis can decipher that there is no change on the roads and the dependence on others modes of transport viz., buses, autos, private vehicles, continues to infest these areas.

However, the present service is still beneficial to a lucky few. Rajeshwari Ganesh, a homemaker who resides near Byappanahalli, said, “I am lucky, the Metro does help me. I take it to drop my son everyday at his school but I don’t generally see many students and corporate employees as regular commuters.”

The BMRCL claims that with a limited reach of six km, the daily ridership in Metro is about 20,000. “With the completion of Phase 1 the ridership is expected to touch one million per day,” B.L.Y. Chavan, Public Relations Officer of BMRCL, said.

Emissions down

However, as per statistics shared by BMRCL, there has been considerable reduction in emission of carbon monoxide and automobile exhaust. The energy required to transport people for the distance through Metro is less than one-tenth of that required in transporting the same number of persons by bus. Indeed, energy efficiency appears to be the only positive of the Metro facility servicing a meagre percentage of commuters.

After the baneful acquisition of land, demolition of buildings, felling of trees and narrowing of roads, residents see no purpose in having the prestigious mega-transport structure which provides no relief in any form.

Jayanthy Bhagatha (32), a resident of Indiranagar, said, “Living in this area, I have seen an increase in noise pollution, chaotic traffic jams and vehicles squeezing through roads narrowed by Metro construction. Many residents and private businesses have suffered immensely.”

Palanivelu (54), a resident of Halasuru, said, “My house collapsed during the laying of the foundation for the Metro station. I couldn’t expect any help or compensation from the BMRCL. The road gets very dusty due to constant vehicular movement and people have a hard time maintaining their houses. But, the division of road has kept traffic at bay. It is the only consolation.”

The proposal of the railways to set up an AC loco maintenance shed in Ernakulam has kicked up a row with railway employees alleging that the move is political in nature.According to officials, the railways has set aside `20 crore for setting up the AC loco shed on the Ernakulam junction premises.A letter has been forwarded by the General Manager of the Southern Railways to the Railway Board for approval.The decision to set up the AC loco shed was taken as most of the trains in the Thiruvananthapuram division ran on electric engines, the officials said. However, the railway employees allege that the move to set up the AC loco shed and in turn transfer the diesel loco shed from Kerala to Tamil Nadu or Karnataka was political.They said the move was a huge blow to the 350 employees currently working in the diesel loco shed, which is Kerala’s only diesel engine maintenance facility.Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) divisional president P Unnikrishnan said since the repair and maintenance work of diesel locos is different from electric engines, it is also highly unlikely that these employees will be reinstated.“We are not against the construction of a new AC loco shed here. However, if there is any move to shift the diesel shed to a different place, the management should take us into confidence. There is a huge possibility that the employees will be transferred to other locations, i.e., to other states where the diesel shed will be relocated. We demand that the management either withdraw the move or hold talks with us in this regard to allay the fears of the employees,” Unnikrishnan said.

The SRMU will observe black day on Monday and is gearing up for a statewide agitation in the coming days.

Railway officials here said there were possibilities to set up the AC loco shed without disturbing the diesel loco shed.

“However, we have not been given any briefing regarding this because the proposal is in the initial stages,” Ernakulam area manager P L Ashok Kumar said.

Southern Railway has cancelled a number of trains between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for tomorrow due to the agitation by some workers of Andhra Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation over the Telangana issue.

The Jan Shatabdi Express running between Chennai Central and Vijayawada, scheduled to leave the city tomorrow, has been cancelled, a Southern Railway release said.

Lok Sabha elections in 2014 have prompted the railways to speed up projects in VIP constituencies.Railways on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with steel ministry’s public sector unit, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), to fast-track the wheel factory project in Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s Raebareli.Ministers from both participating ministries, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Steel Minister Benipersad Verma, were present to oversee the signing ceremony. The Rs 960-crore forged wheel factory was announced in the current budget and within a short period, railways arranged the resources. The state government has already provided 40 acres of land in Raebareli. RINL will invest the entire cost under assured off-take for around 26 years.

Only 10 days ago, Sonia Gandhi had laid the foundation stone for Mainline Electric Multiple Unit ( MEMU) coach factory in Bhiwara to strengthen her confidant and a state heavyweight C P Joshi. The foundation laying programme was to be organised sometime in October, but keeping in view the assembly elections in Rajasthan, it was advanced.

The Rs 1,000-crore MEMU project is in partnership with the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). The project took off during Joshi’s brief tenure in the ministry and an MoU was signed without delay.

However, the Rs 600-crore rail coach factory in Palakkad in Kerala was pushed behind. The CPM government gave 400 acres of land in 2009 on the condition that it would be a joint venture of railways with a government PSU.

Vizianagaram/Hyderabad: Curfew was imposed in Vizianagaram town in coastal Andhra after violent attacks on the property of transport minister Botsa Satyanarayana, and shoot at sight orders were issued on Sunday.

Police arrested 34 people for arson and rioting in the town. Four of those arrested are said to be outsiders, two of them from Srikakulam. The town remained tense on Sunday as the united Andhra protesters hit the streets in the morning despite the curfew and pelted stones at policemen and targeted the Satya Institute of Technology and Management College in Gajularega, run by a relative of Satyanarayana.

IGP D. Tirumala Rao said, “The situation is almost under control. The locals, unaware of the implications of the curfew are coming onto the roads.”

Extra forces brought into Vizinagaram

“In the morning there were incidents of hurling stones on police in Vizianagaram. We have an adequate number of forces stationed in the city. Efforts are on to impose the curfew totally,” IGP D. Tirumala Rao director general of police B. Prasada Rao said extra forces have been brought into Vizianagaram town. “There is no major violence in the town. An additional 35 companies of paramilitary forces are on their way.”

Agitators were out in force in Kothapeta, Palliveedhi, Kota Junction, Dasannapeta, Kanyakaparameswari temple and other areas of Vizianagaram town on Sunday morning. The police had to fire rubber bullets in the air at Kothapeta, Gajularega and Palliveedhi and used smoke shells. Normal life was paralysed in Vizianagaram town.

Around 4,500 police and paramilitary forces sealed areas such as Korada Street, Sivalayam Street, Three Lamps area, Clock Tower, where Satyanarayana’s house and those of his relatives are located.

All shops including medical stores, restaurants and cinema theatres shut down for the third consecutive day. Vizianagaram and surrounding area were cut off from other parts of the region as no one is being allowed into the town and all vehicles are being checked.

Some women staged a protest by squatting on the railway track, alleging that they were lathi-charged by the police when they were doing their routine work in their homes.

There were complaints of excessive use of force by the police in order to safeguard the properties and houses of Satyanarayana, who people believe pushed for the division of the state for selfish reasons.

Tirumala Rao said that the relaxation of curfew will depend on the situation.

Power cuts: Around 30,000 electricity employees are on an indefinite strike in the Seemandhra region, which began immediately after the 48-hour strike ended. The strike has hit power generation in coastal Andhra and also transmission across the state. AP has lost close to 4,000 MW of power due to the strike.

The Southern grid has been threatened and therefore the large-scale power cuts imposed across the state. “Apart from the Srisailam Right Bank losing total generation, even generation from the Left Bank has gone down to 300 MW from 900 MW due to switching off of supply to Anantapur and Kurnool. The total hydel generation has come down substantially from the 35 MU to 40 MU on Saturday,” said director (hydel) APGenco, G. Adhisheshu.

Hospitals: Elective surgeries in district hospitals of Seemandhra have come to a halt due to the agitation in the state. Only emergency services and deliveries of pregnant women are being attended to by the doctors and paramedical staff.

On emergency duty, on orders of the state government, doctors and paramedical staff cannot go on strike. But to register their protest, they shout slogans in the mornings and at lunch time. Although there was no rush of patients in the hospitals on Sunday, the administration claims that the situation will deteriorate if the situation continues as withholding elective surgeries for long can be harmful to the patients.

Trains: The South Central Railway (SCR) has been badly affected by the indefinite strike of electricity employees. Forty trains have been cancelled and several others diverted as power supply to the railways has been cut off. Train services in Vijayawada have been completely halted.

Trains on the Vijayawada-Gudur-Renigunta route, Kazipet-Vijayawada route, and the Vijayawada-Gudur-Tirupati route have been cancelled. Priority has been given to the smooth running of long distance mail and express trains which link the north and south, and east and south, traversing via Vijayawada and Guntakal divisions of SCR. No long distance express trains was cancelled or diverted till 6 pm on Sunday, according to SCR officials.